Pork and Spinach Stuffed Kabocha Squash

I was inspired to come up with this recipe after reading Dorie Greenspan’s recipe for Pumpkin Stuffed WIth Everything Good. It’s actually stuffed with lots of non-Paleo badness (but it sure sounds tasty). I decided to stuff a Kabocha squash taking up real estate on my counter with more Paleo-friendly ingredients. Dorie’s recipe takes ~2 hours to cook which is totally unacceptable to me so I nuked my squash to halve the cooking time. Kabocha is a starchier and drier squash, so definitely add chicken broth to the stuffing before baking it.

Season the inside of the squash with salt and pepper. Put the squash upside down in a microwaveable container, add a splash of water, cover with a lid, and nuke for 8-10 minutes to soften.

In the meantime, prepare the filling. Heat 1 tablespoon of coconut oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add the minced shallots and sauté until they are translucent. Throw in the minced garlic and stir it around until it is fragrant (~30 seconds). Add the ground pork and cook until it’s no longer pink.

Season the pork to taste with salt and pepper and stir in 1 tablespoon of Tabil.

Add 2 cups of frozen spinach straight from the freezer (buy the bagged stuff, not the frozen block) and stir everything until the spinach defrosts.

Remove the squash out of the microwave and place it on a foil lined baking tray. Fill the squash up to the top (I had about 1/3 of the filling left over that I will chow on later this week).

Add the chicken broth to the filling and cover with the top of the squash. Place the stuffed squash in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the flesh is easily pierced with a knife.

Henry and I split it in half…

…and ate it with some sliced tomatoes and nuked green beans flavored with butter, salt, and pepper.

Tasty and quick. If you haven’t noticed, those are my two favorite adjectives for a dish.